


Detective Lessons

by dudski



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-26
Updated: 2005-11-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 04:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dudski/pseuds/dudski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Filling in what happens to the Mars family between what we saw in flashbacks - Keith tries to keep his family together after Lilly's murder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Detective Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted as slowtosurface.](http://slowtosurface.livejournal.com/5103.html)

It starts when she comes home one day, crying, and won't tell him or Lianne what the problem is. He never does find out, but it's after that day that she stops hogging the phone, that her friends stop coming by to comfort her, that she stops going out. Veronica has been lost since Lilly died, but this is the first time that Keith’s seen her be really, truly alone.

The adults of Neptune have turned against him, so it should be no surprise that their children do the same to his daughter, even though she's as much a victim in this situation as anyone is. She doesn't blame him, he thinks - she still has that childlike trust in her dad, and it doesn't occur to her that he made the wrong decision, even when the doubts are keeping him awake at night.

Veronica doesn't blame him, but this is most certainly his fault.

===

At one point the doubts consume him and he thinks about folding, about letting the investigation go in the direction everyone else wants it to. He never knows how long he would have held out, though, because the recall forces him out anyway.

It crushes him. All the work he put in to protecting Neptune and its citizens is forgotten because of the politics of one case, and suddenly he and his family are scum. He'd like to give up, to spend months in front of the TV drinking himself into oblivion, but he sees that look on Veronica's face, that terrified, uncertain look, and he has to keep going. Has to, because Lianne's getting worse and Keith can't put Veronica through that again. He pulls her to him the night he loses his badge and promises quietly that everything will be fine.

He thinks if he doesn't keep going, she'll lose her absolute faith in him. She’s all he’s got left. He can't look small to her.

===

Two weeks later, and he's got the bare bones of an agency set up. He works from home because he can't afford to rent out an office - Lianne's on her way to drinking up his severance package, and it's only a matter of time before he'll need to decide between the electricity bill and Veronica's allowance.

He can't afford to advertise (and judging by the election results, it wouldn't do him much good), so he starts out by using the contacts he's already got. It's tracking down bail jumpers, mostly, and it keeps him away from home more than he'd like, but the money is enough to keep them going.

===

He tells Veronica that they're going to have to sell the house, and she takes the news considerably better than her mother did. There's just a quick nod and an "okay" because she saw this coming, and Keith realizes that she's gotten too good at hiding things from him.

===

When he retrieves his first skip, he decides they need to celebrate - it's three grand, after all, a bigger cut than he'll be able to expect from anything he does in the near future, so he figures might as well splurge and calls home to let the girls know they're going out to dinner.

When Veronica answers the phone, there's something in her voice that he can't quite place, but it unsettles him enough that he ups his speed, trying to make the last hundred miles between him and Neptune pass more quickly.

"I'm on my way back from San Diego," he says, desperately searching for something that will ease the tension. "Hey, I caught the bail jumper - he was in Tucson, Marty’s got him now."

"That's great, Dad," she says, and he's relieved that she actually does sound happy.

"So I was thinking, I got a pretty hefty reward for this guy - why don't we all go out for dinner tonight?"

"Dad, I don't know...I was at a party last night, I'm kind of tired."

"Aww, come on. It's been a while. We can go to the Fireside, you love that place. Please?" There's a pause, but she relents. "I'll make reservations," he says,” and I should be home a little after seven. Let your mom know when she gets home, okay?"

They say "I love you" and hang up, and it feels a little bit like progress. He's got his first post-recall paycheck, Veronica is being social again, and the Mars family is about to dine in style. Maybe if things keep going this well he can pull his family back together.

===

It's nine thirty when Veronica suggests they just go. "We can leave a note, and if she comes home she can meet up with us."

The only part Keith hears is "if she comes home," but he nods anyway and grabs his keys. They’ve missed their reservations by over an hour, so instead of the Fireside they go to a diner. He regrets it soon enough - they're both overdressed, worried, and disappointed, but they cover up the silence that hangs between them with food and small talk. He asks about the party - she says it was fun. She’s lying, and he knows it. It's like a punch in the gut when he realizes that things aren't getting any better for her, and he can't call out her lie without getting into a conversation that he doesn't think he’s ready for.

The silence takes over again, and Keith searches for a way to cover it up by making himself look busy. He chews meticulously on each bite, hoping to draw out his meal long enough that he won't be left fumbling for words while he waits for Veronica to finish.

After five minutes of this, Veronica drops her fork with a clatter. "How exactly do you go about tracking down a bail jumper?"

===

It's after that night that things start to get better between them. He's reluctant to really involve her in any of his cases, so she books his flights and his rental cars and takes messages while he's gone, and he shares the tricks of the trade with her over burgers at the diner, which become their ritual on the nights he comes home with a check.

===

Lianne is home less and less after they move, but Keith pretends not to notice because everything else is going so well, and if he admits that he can't fix her then he's failed. He thinks maybe she'll come around, that if he and Veronica can stay strong then she'll realize it’s going to be fine and settle down again.

===

Veronica wakes him up one morning with tears in her eyes, and he can't understand how he slept through the end of his marriage. He should have known better than to think it would work out.

Keith tries to pretend for her, but Veronica screams at him not to baby her, that she's old enough to know her mother might never come back, and even though it terrifies Keith to see her break like that, he can't help but feel relieved because for the first time since all this started, Veronica isn't hiding from him. She shuts herself in her room, and the walls of their new apartment are thin enough that he can hear her cry herself to sleep.

===

It’s ten when he pulls her out of bed the next morning. She's groggy and still a little pissed off, but she complies when he tells her to get ready to go driving.

He heads outside and sits on the hood of the car, tossing the keys at her when she finally emerges from the apartment complex. "You're driving."

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know," he says, grinning at the look of incredulity she gives him. "You're the driver - I'm just the humble teacher."

"I hate to break it to you, Dad, but you already taught me how to drive. Remember? Road test? License? Intense lectures about not driving drunk, not staying out past curfew, and always signaling before a turn?"

"That does ring a bell, but this is different, I promise." She gets into the car, her interest piqued, and obeys silently when he tells her to drive downtown. They park outside Thao's Fashion and wait for a few minutes, while Keith scans the street for a good car.

"There," he says, finally breaking the silence, "see that guy coming out of the movie theatre? I want you to follow him once he gets into his car."

"Are you serious?" She's staring at him like he's insane. "Who is he?"

"I don't know," Keith answers. "And yes, I'm serious. See? Serious face."

"Fine." Veronica grins, but does nothing as the man gets into his Mercedes and pulls out of the space. Keith thinks, at first, that she's not going to go through with it, but then she pulls out, blending perfectly into traffic a few cars behind her target. Keith had expected it to be like the first time he took her out driving, when she was tentative and so nervous that she'd stop at green lights before remembering it was okay to go. Instead, Veronica's tailing the car like she's been doing it for years. She gets too far back sometimes and makes him think they're about to lose the guy, but clearly, she knows what she's doing because she always manages to keep up.

===

Twenty miles later, the other car pulls into a driveway. Veronica drives on and circles the block, stopping a few houses down the road just in time to see the man enter his house.

She kills the engine and leans back, clearly enjoying the look on his face. "So," she says, grinning, "how'd I do?"

"Where did you learn to tail people?" he asks, unable to think of anything witty.

"Lilly taught me,” she says, like it’s nothing special. “We used to follow Logan when she thought he was cheating.”

"Oh," he says, and they sit in silence.

Veronica laughs suddenly. "Thanks for the lesson, Dad."

===

He ends up taking the uselessness of that first lesson as a challenge, looking for things he can actually teach her. Bit by bit, she assists with cases, increasing her involvement so gradually that even he doesn't notice. She learns how to perform background checks and discreetly take photos. When he has time they go around Neptune for actual practice. Veronica learns how to look like she belongs when she doesn’t, how to blend when she needs to, how to create a personality for herself on the spot, and how to seem just desperate and plausible enough that clerks, doormen, and secretaries will bend the rules for her. It’s a long time before it occurs to him that teaching Veronica how to deceive people will only make her better at deceiving him.

===

He comes home with a pit bull one day like it's completely normal, and Veronica plays along so they don’t have to acknowledge that they don't live in the safest part of Neptune and he's worried about leaving her home alone.

"Welcome to the family, Backup."

===

Keith worries sometimes that it's too much, that she's only sixteen and she shouldn't be living like this. But it's amazing how quickly she learns and he feels so proud of her, so happy to be connecting with her like this, that he pushes his doubts aside. She's fine, he thinks, and she's just helping out with little stuff - it's not like he's taking her to Vegas to track down petty criminals.

===

When he gets home one night, "LIKE MOTHER LIKE DAUGHTER" is painted on the doors of the LeBaron and "SLUT" has been scratched into the hood. Keith stays calm for Veronica's sake, but in his head he's finding the bastard that did this and teaching him firsthand how many body parts can be ripped off before you lose consciousness.

He finds nothing, though, not a single lead, and after a week of turning down Marty’s offers, he has to go after another bail jumper because money's getting tight. He hates leaving her, especially now, but when he kisses her goodbye he promises he'll be back as soon as he can.

He gets the jumper back to Marty in record time and is home less than a day after he left. The first thing he notices is Veronica's car. They did their best to fix it up since they couldn't afford the repairs, but it looks better than it did when he left - actually, it looks better than it did when they bought it.

Veronica looks up from her homework when he enters the apartment, a surprised look on her face. "I didn't think you'd be home for another day or two."

"I work fast," he says. "Veronica, the car--"

"I ordered takeout already, but they're only bringing enough for me. You want me to order more?"

It goes on like that all night - she's got errands to run, homework to do, and he can't get an answer out of her. Finally, when she's about to go to bed, he catches her wrist. "Veronica. I'm not letting go until you tell me: How'd you get the car fixed?"

She pauses for a minute and considers her answer. "You work fast. I work faster." He releases her arm and she walks off, turning to face him when she reaches her bedroom. “Did you hear? Kenny Hausman’s parents shipped him off to military school. Kids these days, huh?” And with that she shuts the door, wearing the same smug grin she’d had when she told him it was Lilly who showed her how to tail like a pro.

He never does find out exactly what happened, but he sleeps better that night than he has in months. They’re doing okay.


End file.
